Can any of you kind people explain the differences too me in lay persons terms, the two ideology's seem very similar to me..

Many thanks

Roller

Communism is public ownership of the means of production of consumer goods, and their equal distribution to all members of society regardless of their individual production level. All members of society are reduced to the lowest common denominator economically, socially, and genetically. The masses are rendered docile to maintain conformity.

National socialism is a system of private competitive enterprise of consumer goods, and with public provision of essential services that do not directly involve the production of consumer goods. These services include, public water and sewer systems, public education, public libraries, publicly owned non-profit hospitals that operate free of direct charge, publicly owned non-profit banks, and various social services to assist those who are unable to work. All members of society are encouraged to excell individually and to champion higher virtues of honor, integrity, dignity, heroism, and glory.

Communism like Objectivism, Islam, Anarchism, and Liberal political correctness are systems based on words, that is someones individual opinion. Because of this they naturally want to abolish cultures that contradict there universalist ideology.
National Socialist is the opposite of this, NS is a system based on race its main objective rather than to reduce the workers to proletarians or to unleash Capitalism is to ensure the advancement of the tribe.

Can any of you kind people explain the differences too me in lay persons terms, the two ideology's seem very similar to me..

Many thanks

Roller

It's actually not that easy of a question to answer, especially considering the fact that many theories have arisen throughout history calling themselves "National Socialism" which were actually quite different from one another. I presume you're referring to Hitler's brand of "National Socialism," since it's the most popular variety.

Another difficulty lies with the term "communism," basically due to the fact there are various strands of communist thought and there is a striking difference between communism in theory and the attempted implementation of Marxism.

To simplify the subject, I'm just going to briefly outline the differences between specifically Hitlerism and Marxism:

HITLERISM

*Economics

Hitler basically believed in regulating the economy. The way he accomplished this was by implementing price controls, wage controls, dividend restrictions, abolishing the gold standard, investment controls, etc. Hitler additionally favored the nationalization of businesses which didn't conform with the state's conception of what was in the nation's interest.

Hitler also believed in social justice policies, thus he established full employment via public works projects for the unemployed, compulsory union membership, public health care, guaranteed vacations for all employees, affordable state housing for the proletariat, progressive taxation, etc.

*Culture

Hitler's National Socialism was openly authoritarian. The Führerprinzip (or "leader principle" in English) was one of the chief pillars of Hitlerism; it basically asserts that the will of the nation should be embodied in a single individual with far reaching dictatorial powers.

Hitler believed in preserving many aspects of traditional German culture, but he was also an avowed eugenicist, thus he established eugenic courts which stripped citizens of the 'freedom' of procreating as they deemed fit. There is also ample evidence that Hitler was a deist or agnostic and held hostile views of Christianity, but I don't want to get dragged into that subject again—all that's really relevant to know is that Hitler further secularized Germany.

*Foreign Policy

Hitler was somewhat of a traditional nationalist insofar as he maintained the traditional European nationalist view of the necessity of imperialism. However, Hitler differed in that his imperialism was to be centered on expanding Germany's "surplus population" to newly acquired Eastern European territories—aka: "lebensraum."

Karl Marx envisioned a post-capitalist society in which the means of production would be collectively owned and society moved past the necessity of a market mechanism to facilitate the allocation of goods and services—he called this system "communism."

*Culture

Marx, and most subsequent Marxists, held the view that culture, and even human nature, were simply reflections of the mode of production a given society embraced, thus culture in a communist society would differ markedly from the cultural practices in capitalist societies. Therefore, many communist theoreticians believed that issues such as racism, sexism, homophobia, and so forth would cease to exist simply by virtue of humanity moving past capitalism.

*Foreign Policy

Marx was believed in internationalism. He felt that institutions, such as the nation-state, could eventually be transcended by the abandonment of capitalism; in his view this would lead to the eventual union of all of mankind.

As I said at the start of this post, there is a significant difference between communism in theory and the various state socialist nations which came to fruition throughout history—e.g., the USSR, North Korea, Maoist China, the Khmer Rouge, etc. Therefore, it isn't difficult to find similarities between, say, Stalinism and Hitlerian National Socialism in many respects.

For further information, feel free to browse through my posts; you may find my thread on the Third Position useful.

It's actually not that easy of a question to answer, especially considering the fact that many theories have arisen throughout history calling themselves "National Socialism" which were actually quite different from one another. I presume you're referring to Hitler's brand of "National Socialism," since it's the most popular variety.

Another difficulty lies with the term "communism," basically due to the fact there are various strands of communist thought and there is a striking difference between communism in theory and the attempted implementation of Marxism.

To simplify the subject, I'm just going to briefly outline the differences between specifically Hitlerism and Marxism:

HITLERISM

*Economics

Hitler basically believed in regulating the economy. The way he accomplished this was by implementing price controls, wage controls, dividend restrictions, abolishing the gold standard, investment controls, etc. Hitler also favored the nationalization of businesses which didn't conform with the state's conception of what was in the nation's interest.

Hitler also believed in social justice policies, thus he established full employment via public works projects for the unemployed, compulsory union membership, public health care, guaranteed vacations for all employees, affordable state housing for the proletariat, progressive taxation, etc.

*Culture

Hitler's National Socialism was openly authoritarian. The Führerprinzip (or "leader principle" in English) was one of the chief pillars of Hitlerism; it basically asserts that the will of the nation should be embodied in a single individual with far reaching dictatorial powers.

Hitler believed in preserving many aspects of traditional German culture, but he was also an avowed eugenicist, thus he established eugenic courts which stripped citizens of the 'freedom' of procreating as they deemed fit. There is also ample evidence that Hitler was a deist or agnostic and held hostile views of Christianity, but I don't want to get dragged into that subject again—all that's really relevant to know is that Hitler further secularized Germany.

*Foreign Policy

Hitler somewhat of a traditional nationalist insofar as he maintained the traditional European nationalist view of the necessity of imperialism. However, Hitler differed in that his imperialism was to be centered on expanding Germany's "surplus population" to newly acquired Eastern European territories—aka: "lebensraum."

Karl Marx envisioned a post-capitalist society in which the means of production would be collectively owned and society moved past the necessity of a market mechanism to facilitate the allocation of goods and services—he called this system "communism."

*Culture

Marx, and most subsequent Marxists, held the view that culture, and even human nature, were simply reflections of the mode of production a given society embraced, thus culture in a communist society would differ markedly from the cultural practices in capitalist societies. Therefore, many communist theoreticians believed that issues such as racism, sexism, homophobia, and so forth would cease to exist simply by virtue of humanity moving past capitalism.

*Foreign Policy

Marx was believed in internationalism. He felt that institutions, such as the nation-state, could eventually be transcended by the abandonment of capitalism; in his view this would lead to the eventual union of all of mankind.

What a load of crap. You write like an old time Communist from the Daily Worker. The only thing left-wing in your scenario is you.

It's actually not that easy of a question to answer, especially considering the fact that many theories have arisen throughout history calling themselves "National Socialism" which were actually quite different from one another. I presume you're referring to Hitler's brand of "National Socialism," since it's the most popular variety.

Another difficulty lies with the term "communism," basically due to the fact there are various strands of communist thought and there is a striking difference between communism in theory and the attempted implementation of Marxism.

To simplify the subject, I'm just going to briefly outline the differences between specifically Hitlerism and Marxism:

HITLERISM

*Economics

Hitler basically believed in regulating the economy. The way he accomplished this was by implementing price controls, wage controls, dividend restrictions, abolishing the gold standard, investment controls, etc. Hitler also favored the nationalization of businesses which didn't conform with the state's conception of what was in the nation's interest.

Hitler also believed in social justice policies, thus he established full employment via public works projects for the unemployed, compulsory union membership, public health care, guaranteed vacations for all employees, affordable state housing for the proletariat, progressive taxation, etc.

*Culture

Hitler's National Socialism was openly authoritarian. The Führerprinzip (or "leader principle" in English) was one of the chief pillars of Hitlerism; it basically asserts that the will of the nation should be embodied in a single individual with far reaching dictatorial powers.

Hitler believed in preserving many aspects of traditional German culture, but he was also an avowed eugenicist, thus he established eugenic courts which stripped citizens of the 'freedom' of procreating as they deemed fit. There is also ample evidence that Hitler was a deist or agnostic and held hostile views of Christianity, but I don't want to get dragged into that subject again—all that's really relevant to know is that Hitler further secularized Germany.

*Foreign Policy

Hitler somewhat of a traditional nationalist insofar as he maintained the traditional European nationalist view of the necessity of imperialism. However, Hitler differed in that his imperialism was to be centered on expanding Germany's "surplus population" to newly acquired Eastern European territories—aka: "lebensraum."

Karl Marx envisioned a post-capitalist society in which the means of production would be collectively owned and society moved past the necessity of a market mechanism to facilitate the allocation of goods and services—he called this system "communism."

*Culture

Marx, and most subsequent Marxists, held the view that culture, and even human nature, were simply reflections of the mode of production a given society embraced, thus culture in a communist society would differ markedly from the cultural practices in capitalist societies. Therefore, many communist theoreticians believed that issues such as racism, sexism, homophobia, and so forth would cease to exist simply by virtue of humanity moving past capitalism.

*Foreign Policy

Marx was believed in internationalism. He felt that institutions, such as the nation-state, could eventually be transcended by the abandonment of capitalism; in his view this would lead to the eventual union of all of mankind.

As I said at the start of this post, there is a significant difference between communism in theory and the various state socialist nations which came to fruition throughout history—e.g., the USSR, North Korea, Maoist China, the Khmer Rouge, etc. Therefore, it isn't difficult to find similarities between, say, Stalinism and Hitlerian National Socialism in many respects.

For further information, feel free to browse through my posts; you may find my thread on the Third Position useful.

Great post PNR. I always enjoy your views.

I have a question though. Some people here seem to be nationalist capitalists. Care to give your opinion on the difference between a nationalist capitalist system and a nationalist socialist system?

Personally, from a racialist and nativist perspective, I favor free trade because I don't like the thought of regulatory bureaucracies, which can be a double edged sword. On the other hand, although I like the idea of nationalist capitalism, I just can't fully accept it because of free trade capitalism's natural affinity towards internationalism.